Discovering me … one stitch at a time

Tag: piano

1. I have recently become obsessed with houseplants. My favorites are Angelvines, which look so wild and tangled and spontaneous (everything I am not) and Chinese Money Plants. I didn’t know until I checked Le Google, but this is a popular plant for propagating and sharing with friends. Now if only I had some plant loving friends.

Angelvine in the front…

Chinese money plant… It’s so cute!

2. We got a new (used) piano and I had my first lesson this week. My favorite part about playing is that it requires full concentration and focus and I kinda get lost in it. It reminds me a little bit of cross stitch in that way. I am working on Let it Be by the Beatles, which is probably every beginning piano player’s first song. It is SO FUN!

Charlie disapproves of all the noise I make.

3. Tom and I finally splurged on a King sized bed. Now we no longer have to contort ourselves around Charlie and his bed hogging ways.

It feels rather luxurious!

4. We have house guests arriving this weekend who will be staying for a week!

No photo… Just imagine me frantically cleaning.

5. These are my latest reads. I suppose this is a pretty good representation of my current interests.

They might not look like much to you, but they are a pretty big deal. We are not such green thumbs around here.

I got this book, which I am looking forward to reading. Introverts unite!

I let the boys do a little redecorating, which I am beginning to regret. This is one of their formerly cute shelves. It used to hold vintage children’s books and fire engines now THIS… sigh… boys.

Proof that Coal might >gasp< LIKE Sammy (a little).

Proof that Charlie is the softest, cuddliest, fattest cat in all the land.

I made this Icebox Strawberry Cake from Pinterest. Fresh whipped cream… happy sigh. It was worth it.

Lest you think that I’ve abandoned my one true love, I haven’t.

See the creepy lady that is beginning to emerge? There is a little problem. My linen is lighter than the linen that they recommended, so her skin color may not show up. Should I go even paler for her skin so that she is even creepier and ghostlier?

The boys got tired of the “8 Ball Club” upstairs, so they set up the “Hip Hop Club” in the basement. Tom and I were quick to dismantle it because geeeze it was the only quiet kid free area left in the house!

Like this:

On Monday night I had piano class. It was so fun! I am actually kinda reading music! It is so neat to look at something that seemed like a jumbled mess just a few weeks ago and now (sorta) understand what it means! It really is like learning a different language.

It’s funny that just a few years ago, I would’ve been hard pressed to list my “hobbies.” If someone asked me, I would mumble something like, “uh… I guess I like to cook and read” but they weren’t really hobbies. Now I have SO MANY hobbies! Cooking and reading are still in there, but also cross stitch, piano, herbs, baking, fermenting, blogging etc. etc. etc. I love learning new things!

This has been a really busy week so far. On Tuesday night, we went to a potluck dinner at the boys’ school. Growing up, my parents were busy & poor immigrants who didn’t have the time or interest in these types of activities. I always felt so left out. Now to overcompensate for the boys, I ALWAYS participate in these events even though I pretty much hate them. The things you do when you become a parent!

Speaking of parents, my Dad was emailing me about the weather in Florida yesterday. This is a man who is OBSESSED with weather and watches the Weather Channel for enjoyment, so I didn’t think much of it. It didn’t dawn on me until later that he was sending me the Florida forecast because we are going to Florida in less than a WEEK! What?!!! How did I lose an entire month? This was supposed to be the month where I lose weight! And shop for a new bathing suit! And buy weather appropriate clothes for the boys! And look up kids activities and buy discount tickets and plan ahead! Oops. Guess we will fall to Plan B, which is “be spontaneous and squeeze into last year’s shorts.”

Like this:

I am in a bit of a tizzy this week. If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know that I’m a homebody, so when faced with a week (like this one) where we have obligations almost every night, I get a bit anxious. Blergh.

Last night I had piano! We learned the C chord (I felt way ahead because I’ve been practicing that one for weeks), as well as things like staccato and slur and rests. Piano is so much fun!

I was hyped up when I got home from class, so Tom and I finally started on Season 3 of House of Cards. We only watched Episode 1 and it is exciting already! What ever will that sneaky Frank Underwood get into next?!

I take TV too seriously and get worked up after watching shows like this… as in, is this bad stuff really happening in the White House?! Tom doesn’t help by telling me that it does! He knows that it gets my goat.

Today I am thankful for:

It’s supposed to get warmer this week. Ice and snow, please melt!

I need to go to the doctor and they fit me in for early next week. Yay and thank you!

Like this:

Amy from thedoghairstitchery (best blog name!) told me that she saw my blog mentioned in The World of Cross Stitching magazine! Say WHAT?!!

I am still surprised when people say that they read my blog, so was beyond tickled to see this. Guess it’s my 15 minutes of cross stitch FAME!

It’s finally Friday and I would like nothing more than to crash on the couch with my stitching, but alas… this will be a weekend full of social obligations. Le sigh. This must be how Kate Middleton feels when she looks at her calendar.

Like this:

We were expecting a big snow storm and were surprised to wake up to very little snow and no school cancellation today. The boys were especially disappointed since they hadn’t done any homework in anticipation of a snow day. Oops.

It has been very musical with the arrival of our new piano over the weekend! My piano classes don’t start until the end of February so, in the meantime, I’ve been learning some basics from the Internet and my friend, Sharon. So far I know my C-scale and C major chord. I can play a mean Frere Jacques.

Here are some snapshots from around here on this (not very) snowy Tuesday.

Charlie in one of his many strange hiding spots.

Sammy felt a little under the weather this weekend. It didn’t stop him from looking snazzy in his red sweater though.

Date night margarita. Thumbs up!

A new (to us) piano and a new (to us) cat.

Both the cat and the piano are popular with the boys.

Last night, the boys invented a new game where we turned off the lights and wore sunglasses, then had to guess what the other players had sculpted in play doh.

I’ve been so inspired by Biggest and Tom learning instruments that I thought I’d like to learn one too. And then I thought about how I’ve always wanted to play the piano and then I thought about how we don’t have a piano, so Wa-WAAAH. Then, what should come into our lives but a free piano! Huh? Isn’t that some kind of sign? I’m not one to ignore signs from the Universe, so piano lessons, here I come! This should be interesting.